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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Old King's Highway starting at Sandwich

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
53 km
Riding-time estimate
1 h 00
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

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Why this ride

A slower scenic corridor linking historic towns and cultural landmarks. It also links naturally to Cape Cod historic villages.

Access context

Check seasonal gates, park access and state 511 notices before publication.

Seasonal context

Apr-Oct

Scenic road chapters

Old King's Highway

Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 17 km this is Old King's Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.

Chapter facts
Length
17 km
Named road
Old King's Highway

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Sandwich

    Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod, founded in 1637 by settlers from the Plymouth Colony, and it has the air of a place that has been looking at the same view for a very long time. Houses with weathered grey shingles stand around a village green, a mill pond and a small, historic grist mill, and the old Dexter Grist Mill still grinds corn on certain days. The town was home to the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, founded in the 1820s, whose colourful pressed glass was once sold across America, and a museum on the main street displays the best pieces.

    Read the complete Sandwich write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Sandwich sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Barnstable.

  2. 2. Barnstable

    Barnstable is the biggest town on Cape Cod, though you would hardly guess it. It is really a string of villages along Cape Cod Bay, with Barnstable Village, Cotuit and Hyannis among them, and it takes in marsh, beach and farmland over a wide stretch of the Cape's arm. The town has almost forty-eight thousand people, and its long coast looks across to the curling tip of the Cape on one side and out to the Atlantic on the other.

    Read the complete Barnstable write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Barnstable comes up 11 km in. Next is Yarmouth.

  3. 3. Yarmouth

    Planning note

    23 km in you reach Yarmouth. Next is Brewster.

  4. 4. Brewster

    Brewster lies on the northern shore of Cape Cod, along the Cape Cod Bay side, where the tide goes out so far that the flats stretch for a mile or more, leaving a vast expanse of wet, rippled sand dotted with seabirds and people digging for clams. At low tide, you can walk a long way out toward the water, and at high tide, the bay fills quickly, so the locals check the tables. The town is quiet, wooded and relaxed, and the main road through it, Route 6A, is one of the loveliest in the region.

    Read the complete Brewster write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Brewster, late in the day. Next is Orleans.

  5. 5. Orleans

    Orleans sits at the elbow of Cape Cod, where the arm of the peninsula bends north into the open Atlantic, and the sense of being at the edge of something begins here. It is a small town of about fifteen hundred year-round residents, with a handful of shops, a pleasant harbour at Rock Harbor and a few miles of beach on either side. The Cape Cod National Seashore, created in 1961 under President Kennedy, begins to the north in Eastham and runs along the outer shore for forty miles, a long line of high dunes, marsh and ocean beach.

    Read the complete Orleans write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Orleans sits at 53 km, late in the day.

Recorded source links

Source

More motorcycle rides nearby